Question: Let $\mathbf{A} = \begin{pmatrix} 2 & 3 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}.$  Find $\mathbf{A}^{20} - 2 \mathbf{A}^{19}.$
First, we can write $\mathbf{A}^{20} - 2 \mathbf{A}^{19} = \mathbf{A}^{19} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}).$  We can compute that
\[\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I} =
\begin{pmatrix} 2 & 3 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}
- 2
\begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}
=
\begin{pmatrix} 0 & 3 \\ 0 & -1 \end{pmatrix}
.\]Then
\[\mathbf{A} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) =
\begin{pmatrix} 2 & 3 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}
\begin{pmatrix} 0 & 3 \\ 0 & -1 \end{pmatrix}
=
\begin{pmatrix} 0 & 3 \\ 0 & -1 \end{pmatrix}
= \mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}.\]Then for any positive integer $n \ge 2,$
\begin{align*}
\mathbf{A}^n (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) &= \mathbf{A}^{n - 1} \cdot \mathbf{A} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
&= \mathbf{A}^{n - 1} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
\end{align*}Hence,
\begin{align*}
\mathbf{A}^{20} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) &= \mathbf{A}^{19} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
&= \mathbf{A}^{18} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
&= \dotsb \\
&= \mathbf{A}^2 (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
&= \mathbf{A} (\mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I}) \\
&= \mathbf{A} - 2 \mathbf{I} \\
&= \boxed{
\begin{pmatrix} 0 & 3 \\ 0 & -1 \end{pmatrix}
}.
\end{align*}